UK and China: Premier Li visits Downing Street
The Prime Minister welcomed Premier Li Keqiang to Downing Street for the annual UK-China summit.
Prime Minister David Cameron and Premier Li Keqiang joint press conference
The summit took place just 6 months after the Prime Minister’s trip to China and with bilateral trade at record levels – up by 8% overall in 2013.
Read a joint statement following the summit and a summary of the issues discussed at the Global Economy Roundtable.
Trade and investment deals
£14 billion of trade and investment deals were signed between UK and Chinese firms.
Read about the £14 billion of trade and investment deals agreed at the summit.
UK businesses succeeding in China
Businesses that joined the Prime Minister on his visit in December have already seen success:
- Buckinghamshire based Pinewood Studios has signed an agreement with Wanda to advise on the design and construction of a new film and television studio complex in Qingdao; once completed, it will be one of China’s largest film and TV studio facilities
- London based Silvergate Media has signed a deal with CCTV to broadcast its children’s TV programmes ‘Octonauts’ and ‘Peter Rabbit’ in China
- Nottingham based Duresta Upholstery is opening 3 new stores in China this year, with over 20 planned for 2015
- London software company TestPlant has opened its first office in China and signed a distribution deal with Chinese technology service provider HiRain Technologies; as a result of this deal and wider opportunities, TestPlant expects its Chinese revenues to increase from several hundred thousand to £3 million over the next 3 years
- Guildford company Modern Water has seen increased sales of its monitoring equipment as a result of the distribution agreement signed during the visit, and have since opened an office in Shanghai
- Oxfordshire based Phynova has completed the signing of a manufacturing and licensing agreement for their leading product IminoNorm™ with a Shanghai biotech company
UK-China investment
We are the most popular European destination for Chinese investment – there has been more investment into the UK from China in the last 18 months than in the previous 30 years, with over £8 billion in 2013 to 2014 alone.
This investment is creating or safeguarding thousands of jobs in the UK: in 2012 to 2013, Chinese investment in the UK created at least 1,000 new jobs and safeguarded just under 2,500 jobs. And in the last year, around 1,000 jobs were created or safeguarded from 4 projects alone. In the other direction, the UK is China’s second largest European investor, with the total stock of UK investment in China exceeding $18 billion.